Related to my last post, where I believe we shouldn’t make decisions outside the context of a problem or goal. I’ve observed the same issue with secondary goals, where they are discussed outside the context of primary goals. I don’t know if this bothers other people, but it bothers me a lot. Maybe I’m not smart enough to see the implied connections. One example I can give is that many times I’ve been given the goal of “consistency,” whether in the UI or the code style. I’m not saying “consistency” is a bad thing, but without connecting it to the primary pre-shared goal, the value of this secondary goal becomes trivial and nullified. Logically, it doesn’t make sense either, especially for a start-up, because a start-up is doing something new, and you can’t do new things by pursuing consistency. If we did things consistently, we’d still be using XML instead of JSON. Again, to be clear, I’m not saying doing things consistently is bad. I’m just saying that, for me, when given the goal of “consistency” without the context of why it’s important for our primary goal, I’d be much more motivated. Another example is “patterns.” I think initially “patterns” are just solutions to some pre-existing problems, but we put too much emphasis on them to the point where we forget about the goals of these patterns, and the patterns themselves become the goal. To be clear, I’m not saying patterns are bad or that we shouldn’t use them. We should know them, in the same way we should know other just-in-case knowledge, to perform better. Some patterns are just cool, and we derive joy from them, the same way we get joy from movies and music. I’m just saying we probably shouldn’t treat them as primary goals (unless in school, I guess, where you get points for implementing a pattern). Now that I think about it, this may just be a communication issue within an organization, where secondary goals are communicated without the connection to primary goals. I’ve never worked in a big organization, and I wonder how they do it. Also, am I alone in this? Do other people feel demoralized too when given just a secondary goal?

I get demoralized too. What usually happens is I start asking questions like "consistent with what?" Then I don't get a satisfying answer, I realize people setting the goals have no idea what they're doing, and my mood spirals downward from there.

@Eric Normand I hear you bro. How do you cope?

At the best of times, I realize quickly and try to find a kindred spirit, someone else who sees the insanity I see. I've found that most people don't care. They want to code and be left alone.

That’s a good strategy! Thanks for sharing that

The phenomenon is normal, but I need someone to commiserate with about it privately. I've found that if I do it publicly, people think I'm complaining.

Feel free to complain to me next time when this happens

Patterns were originally defined as “Each pattern is a three-part rule, which expresses a relation between a certain context, a problem, and a solution”. Context was always essential and an integral part of patterns.

It great if it’s treated as that in practice.

I think you’re touching on something that resonates a lot with me, but I’m not sure if I understand you correctly, or if I’m just projecting my own issues on it and read what I want to hear. What exactly leads you to feel demoralized? You framed it in the context of primary and secondary goals. What’s the difference? Getting a bit more specific with an example: Do you encounter something like “code smells”? How does preventing or correcting them connect to primary goals? Where does this activity live in your ontology of goals? Would you say there is something like beauty in code? And do you find yourself in situations where you are absolutely sure about something, but everyone around you just gives you blank stares and you are not able to communicate to them what you see but apparently nobody else does? I know that last one is something that makes me feel demoralized, but I’m not sure if that’s relevant at all for what you described.